Getting Personal.

If you’re a long time reader you might remember back in the day when I had my brother put together a killer workout plan for me. It was a good plan and I was really excited about it. But after about two weeks of fumbling through the exercises I realized it wasn’t going to work.

Ultimately, my attempts to Google each of the moves left me feeling completely overwhelmed. This wasn’t a language I spoke. I would watch YouTube videos and try my best, but without the confidence that I was doing everything right (that’s the perfectionist in me – must do everything right all the time) I was basically out of luck before I started. Not to mention the fact that I was working without the right equipment because I was too much of a weenie to stroll into the free weight section of my old gym among the gritty ogres who threw weights around and yelled a lot.

So when I joined my new gym and had a free training session I didn’t really plan to sign up with a personal trainer. I figured I would just blow that whole business off and do my own thing.

Oh, how quickly my plan failed.

Maybe a few days into my new gym membership I got an email from Jason asking if we could meet. Well, fine. But I wasn’t gonna buy anything.

Fail again.

I wish I could tip him off to some glorious thing he said during that first meeting that is a complete and total sales capturing method but I can’t. Basically what it all came down to was my decision that I’m going to actually do this for real this time. And I realized pretty quickly that I needed help.

Since I’ve been working with Jason though, here are some of the things I’ve come to love about working with a personal trainer:

 - I work harder than I ever would alone. That’s just a fact. Left to my own devices I wouldn’t do enough reps, wouldn’t add weight, wouldn’t keep going even when I feel like I’m done.

- I don’t have to think about what I’m doing. No planning required. I show up and do what I’m told. I should start paying more attention, honestly, but I like being able to focus on little things like form and breathing rather than tracking my reps.

- I do things I would never do alone. Like planks. I hate them. I also would never venture very far outside of my comfort zone and try new machines or equipment without a little bit of a push. I also end up sticking with things I would ordinarily just abandon cause I don’t like them. Like planks.

- I can do things I can’t do alone. You haven’t lived until you’ve tried lifting with someone pushing against you. It’s super fun (sarcasm font).

Since those are pretty generic, here are some things I like about working with Jason specifically:

- We just “clicked”. My parents have a personal trainer that comes to their house and I could work out with her if I wanted. But she and I do not have compatible personalities. If you’re spending two hours a week with someone by choice, you should probably get along a little bit. Another reason this is important: so far I can’t think of anything bad about my experience and I think that’s because I’m comfortable enough with Jason that I could just say, “dude, can we not do ___?” and he would come up with a new plan. If you can’t speak up with your trainer you’re not going to get much out of your experience.

- He listens. Sort of. He used to ask what I liked and didn’t like about our workouts but I soon realized that didn’t mean he would change what we did. He doesn’t care that I hate planks. The important thing is that he does listen when it matters – like when my ankle was hurting – and that’s when he’s willing to modify the plans.

- He’s honest. I can say that I hate planks until my tongue falls out. I actually could probably die while planking and he would tell me we’re not going to stop doing planks because they’re good for me. Same with a few other things I don’t like. I appreciate hearing up front that I need to suck it up cause we’re not going to stop doing them.

- He’s just as OCD as me. Anytime a mat goes on the floor, he’s lining it up with the pattern in the carpet so at least while I’m planking the lines aren’t making me crazy. This applies to any equipment that goes on the ground. If there are lines, it’s lining up.

- He’s a walking Harry Potter lexicon. This is totally unrelated to training, but goes back to the whole idea of being compatible with your trainer. It’s not everyone who will call you a muggle or a Hufflepuff when you wimp out during your workout. He also insisted that I should tell you the real story of how Harry Potter ended. It’s not pretty, and if I thought you could handle it, I would. But I’m just not sure you’re ready for that (spoiler alert: everyone dies. Except Hermione).

- He knows what he’s doing. Or at least he’s got me fooled. I feel like he’s a good judge of when to actually push me harder and when to just let it go. I think any good trainer will have those instincts so I guess what I’m saying is I think he’s a good trainer.

- He has high expectations. Just kidding. Sort of.

If you’re curious, my nails did not meet with his approval.

Initially I didn’t want to work with a trainer or even really think I needed one. It actually wasn’t until a few sessions in that I was really even seriously sold on the whole idea of it. I read all these blogs by people who do this kind of thing on their own all the time and figured if they could do it, so could I. And honestly, I could. But really? Could and would are two mutually exclusive concepts. It’s really hard to admit you need help. But I did it, and now I’m really glad.

Have you ever worked with a personal trainer? What have you tried that you didn’t think you would like but actually ended up loving?